Imperfect Circumstances
by Wile
Summary: Set after A New Man Giles and Buffy deal with some residual feelings and thoughts from Thanksgiving and some new ones.


Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any affiliated characters.

A/N: Covers a lot of ground in the middle of season 4 starting with "Pangs" and ending with "A New Man" since I just rewatched several of those episodes recently and I was jonesing for a little B/G love. Italics indicate episode quotes.

: P

"_Tell me again why we're not doing this at your house?" _

"_Giles, if you would like to get by in American society, you are going to have to follow our traditions. You're the patriarch. You have to host the festivities or it's all meaningless."_

"_And this is in no way an elaborate scheme to stick me with the cleanup?"_

"_How about that ceremonial knife, huh?"_

Giles kept coming back to the conversation in his head. He'd suppressed the urge to inquire about the 'patriarch' comment and was wishing he hadn't. It nagged at him for months now. In the end, it had been the perfect Thanksgiving in a way. The whole deal with the Chumash and Spike's arrival were no less than fitting. If nothing else, it made all them grateful for the present company in their own way.

"Hey, Giles, whatcha thinkin' about?" Buffy asked, invading his thoughts.

He put his glasses on. "Nothing in particular. How was patrol last night? Any more commandos?" He'd been plotting what he thought might be their central area of operation when he'd sidetracked in his thoughts.

"Um, not so much. So, um, how are things with you?"

Giles pulled out his map. "Well, I've, uh, I think I've narrowed down the general area in which the commandos may be based. Based on the various sightings, it would seem they're in or around, possibly under the university. I suggest you keep a look out. It's quite possible, and likely even, that you are in the midst of some of them."

"Right, will do. Anything else?" Buffy was on edge.

"No, no, that's all," Giles said a little more sharply than he intended because of Buffy's lack of interest.

"Great. See you later, Giles." She bounded out of the courtyard. Giles removed his glasses, going over the conversation. He felt even more useless, if that were possible. He needed to do something that would make him feel more useful so he went inside and began dusting his bookcase.

: P

"_She's very self-reliant, very independent," Professor Walsh said._

"_Exactly."_

_"Which is not always a good thing. I think it can be unhealthy to take on adult roles too early … absence of a role male model…lacks a strong father-figure."_

The father figure part annoyed him less than the comment about the male role model. Giles always figured he met that requirement best he could, especially with Buffy's tendency toward being independent. Giles sighed deeply. He'd also just been informed by Willow that Riley was one of the commandos in question and that woman Walsh was in charge of the whole group. He hated her more. If all that wasn't bad enough, Ethan Rayne had shown up. He needed a stiff drink … or five.

: P

He thought he'd had the worst headache known to man, but the surprise he got in waking the next morning was worse and only made Giles want to rip Ethan's head off more than ever. He didn't doubt he'd have the strength to do it with ease too, but first he had to find Ethan before beating the crap out of him. And that, of course, required bloody Spike's help because he just happened to speak Fyarl. Giles wasn't sure which part he hated more, having to actually rely on Spike or having to pay the Vampire to get him to help. In the end though, it didn't really matter. The whole jaunt as a demon had been an interesting endeavor. Walsh had a bit of a scare after Giles chased her down the street and Ethan got what was coming to him. All in all, a good day, especially since it ended in time with his Slayer. He was feeling fortunate the letter opener hadn't been real silver, of course.

"How did you know it was me?" Giles asked.

_Buffy said, "Your eyes. You're the only person I know that can look that annoyed with me."_

Giles didn't doubt that. Even Joyce Summers never looked that cross with Buffy, at least not to the best of his knowledge. Following that short talk he'd seen Ethan manhandled by the Initiative and had let Buffy deal with Riley. With Riley gone to finish Initiative work that night, Giles had the joy of escorting Buffy home.

"Giles, I can't tell you how sorry I am," Buffy said for what was probably the twentieth time in their walk home.

"Really, Buffy, it's quite all right. I'm just glad to be back in this form again."

"I still can't believe I stabbed you. I mean, what if that had been real silver. You'd be, you'd be—." She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought and he didn't blame her. He didn't want to either.

"Yes well, I would appreciate it if you replaced that letter opener nonetheless," Giles jested.

"First thing tomorrow morning," she promised.

"Good, good. I don't um, that is, would you like to stop by my place for some tea?"

"And help you clean up the mess you made?"

Giles gave an embarrassed smile. "That too."

Buffy nodded. "Sure. I bet I could get Will and Xander to help too if you wanted. I mean, they were worried for your welfare too, especially the part where I seem to keep failing to tell you things. I'm sorry about that."

Giles replied with "Hmm" and left it at that. They finished their walk in relative silence ending just outside Giles door. "Doesn't look much like home in this condition, though you did a decent job of reattaching the door."

"That was Xander. He, uh, he's good with his hands, I guess, or at least doors."

"Yes, quite." They entered and Giles avoided the mess to start his tea. He didn't want to think about the state of things until he'd had his tea. Buffy picked up a few things here or there, but finally settled on the couch when Giles changed into his own clothes. As he came down from the loft he asked, "Buffy, does that offer from earlier still stand?"

She turned to face him. "Which one is that?"

"The one where you promised to tell me everything."

"Oh, that." She made a face. Giles gave her a look that said she had better stick to it. "Depends on what you want to know."

The teapot squealed. Giles fetched it along with everything else he needed for tea and brought it over to the coffee table. "I've been thinking about Thanksgiving quite a bit actually, and it seemed to me that we-uh, excuse me if I'm wrong, but you seemed to be setting me up as the head of the family and yourself as the-the—"

"Mother?" Buffy started wringing her hands. Giles poured the tea and handed her a cup. "Yeah, um, I kind of wanted to talk to you about that too, I just didn't know where to begin."

"Buffy, you know you can come to me about anything."

"Yeah, well, most things … I'm not really sure about this one."

"Buffy, if your interest lies elsewhere, I understand…"

"But?"

"But, the last several months have not been easy on me. You've practically shut me out and I don't know whether it's something I've done or failed to do, or even if it's my fault at all." Concern showed in his eyes.

Buffy had been paying a lot of attention to them in the last several minutes. His looks were caring, affectionate even, but concerned. She wondered if Quentin Travers was right about Giles having a "Father's Love" for her or if he had been completely wrong. It was part of the reason she had been thinking about Thanksgiving again herself. Something had felt right about the situation, at least where she and Giles were concerned. Sure, they had bickered about a lot of things, but in the end, she'd been happy, content even and Riley was almost nowhere to be seen. But Riley was in the mix now and she'd shut Giles out almost completely. Had she been hiding because she didn't want Giles to know? Had she been hiding because she didn't want to know?

"Buffy?" He reached out to catch a stray tear. The touch was gentle, almost intimate.

Buffy quickly wiped away the rest of the tears that were threatening to fall. "Sorry, I uh. There's something you should know." He waited. "Giles, I, uh, Riley's nice. He's safe and I don't think he would hurt me." Buffy could tell Giles' eyes were slightly cloudy as he looked away. "You," she choked a bit, "you could hurt me so easily. You know so much, have been through so much and losing you—"

Giles looked at her again. The tears were coming down again. He hated that he'd caused her to do that. He took her face in his hands and wiped at the stray tears with his thumbs. Buffy sobbed harder. Giles pulled her closer and held her in a hug. Her head rested on his chest, his chin rested on her head. "Buffy, I'm not going anywhere, not unless you tell me to. I love you too much for that," he whispered sending her into more sobs. A few tears escaped his eyes as well. He hated putting her through that.

Buffy pulled away. "Giles—Rupert," Buffy gave him a soppy smile, "I love you. Riley may be safe, but you're, God, Rupert, you're the one who keeps me going. I ran because I couldn't deal with it. I knew that Riley was all wrong, but I couldn't tell you. You would never, I was sure, feel that, not after what Travers said."

"Travers is a pillock," Giles deadpanned.

Buffy gave a small laugh. "You got that right. Geez, who'd have thought, the two of us would finally figure things out in your trashed apartment after I stabbed you with a letter opener?"

"Well, it is fitting, don't you think? I mean, after everything we've been through, it's only right that our surroundings and circumstances are a bit, um, imperfect." He grinned then gently took hold her face again. "Buffy Summers, I love you and think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"Ditto," she said. "Well, not the woman part, but you know." Giles chuckled. Buffy caught his eye again. She saw only love, attentiveness, and caring in his green eyes. "I love you, Rupert Giles."

They simultaneously moved in for the kiss.

End


End file.
